Welcome, New Faculty

Colston Edgerton MD Colston Edgerton, M.D. joins the division of GI and Laparoscopic Surgery as assistant professor of Surgery, effective September 1, 2020. Dr. Edgerton  completed his general surgery residency at MUSC and served as the administrative chief resident. He then pursued a fellowship in advanced minimally invasive GI and bariatric surgery at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He returns to the division of GI Surgery with a clinical focus in laparoscopic and robotic bariatric, foregut, and hernia surgery.

His academic interests are in clinical outcomes following bariatric surgery and access to subspecialty surgical care.

Lucas McDuffie, M.D.

Lucas McDuffie, M.D. joins the division of Pediatric Surgery as assistant professor of Surgery, effective August 1, 2020. Dr. McDuffie completed his internship and residency training in General Surgery at Indiana University in Indianapolis, Indiana. He spent an additional two years training in oncologic surgery and research at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. During this time, he won numerous research and teaching awards, and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society and the Gold Humanism Honor Society. Dr. McDuffie completed his fellowship in pediatric surgery at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University, where he trained to perform both minimally invasive and open operations for all pediatric general and thoracic surgical conditions. 

Dr. McDuffie’s research interest is childhood cancer, specifically chest, abdominal, and pelvic tumors. His clinical interests are broad and include minimally invasive surgery for a variety of conditions in the chest and abdomen.  

Nicholas Pope, M.D.

Nicolas Pope, M.D. joins the division of Cardiothoracic Surgery as assistant professor of Surgery, effective September 1, 2020. Dr. Pope completed his General surgery training at the University of Virginia, during which time he spent two years of dedicated basic science research into the treatment of aortic aneurysms and therapies to improve lung preservation for transplantation. Dr. Pope completed a Surgical Critical Care fellowship, also at the University of Virginia focusing on the care of patients after cardiac surgery.  He remained at the University of Virginia for his Cardiothoracic Surgical Fellowship.

His clinical interests include surgical treatment of heart failure, mechanical circulatory support, coronary artery disease, heart valve disease, treatment of thoracic aortic disease and critical care of patients undergoing heart surgery. Dr. Pope’s research interests include advanced therapies for heart failure and the causes and potential treatment of aortic aneurysms.

Konrad Rajab, M.D.

Konrad Rajab, M.D. joins the division of Cardiothoracic Surgery as a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon. Dr. Rajab completed his general surgery training at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and spent time dedicated to translational research at Harvard University. Dr. Rajab remained at the Brigham for a Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship. Subsequently, he completed a Congenital Cardiac Surgery Fellowship at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Iris Socomacao MDIsis Scomacao, M.D. joins the division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Dr. Scomacao is a Brazilian plastic surgeon, earning her medical degree in Brazil, followed by a general surgery residency and then a plastic surgery residency that she completed at the Clinics Hospital, Curitiba, Brazil in 2012. She received a prestigious award for placing second in the Brazilian plastic surgery board examination and was also awarded the ASAPS North American Plastic Surgery Fellowship. Dr. Scomacao pursued further training in the US with a focus on microsurgery reconstruction and surgical treatment of lymphedema at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH,  where she completed fellowships in advanced microsurgery, surgical wound care, and craniofacial surgery.

Lucas Witer MD

Lucas Witer, M.D.  joins the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery as an assistant professor.

Dr. Witer completed residency in general surgery at the Oakland University – William Beaumont Hospital, a cardiothoracic surgery fellowship at the New York Presbyterian– Weill Cornell Medical Center and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

He continued advanced subspecialty training at the New York Presbyterian – Columbia University Medical Center in heart failure, advanced mechanical circulatory support, ventricular assist device implantation and cardiac transplantation.